50 gotten Son who is one with the Father (cf. Jn 10:30, 14:11). By imitating Christ’s poverty, they profess that he is the Son who receives everything from the Father, and gives everything back to the Father in love (cf. Jn 17:7, 10). By accepting, through the sacrifice of their own freedom, the mystery of Christ’s filial obedience, they profess that he is infinitely beloved and loving, as the One who delights only in the will of the Father (cf. Jn 4:34), to whom he is perfectly united and on whom he depends for everything.” (VC 16). Consecrated – brave in maintaining an appropriate style of life and work Summing up the presence, life and mission of modern men consecrated to God in the context of cultural and civilizational challenges, one may conclude together with the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life that we are being constantly invited “to respond to the calls of the Spirit and provocations of history” (NV 32). However, to respond to them credibly, one has to know who he really is, he should not be afraid of discovering his own identity and fighting to preserve it, just like, among others, our Father Founder did. We know only too well how much effort is needed to be faithful to the smallest components of the Marian life: daily prayer (overworked, we struggle to participate in common liturgies), monthly days of recollection (devoted to evangelisation, we don’t want to “waste time” reading the reflections of others, and we don’t feel like making our own), participating in person in annual retreats (instead of the joy of silence, we give in to the temptation of discontent), the proposed renewals of the religious life (we can always do some additional fraternal “business” instead of truly engage in, after all, lifelong formation), or simple, un-feigned fraternal kindness and interest in the life of my brothers, Province or the whole Congregation. The high price of this faithfulness should not discourage us. On the contrary, it should motivate us to true courage in preserving the style of life and work proposed to us by St. Stanislaus. Because it turns out that this “style of life, the acceptance of difficulties and faithfulness to God’s will” make the youngest generations of Marians love Father Founder. Here is a very moving testimony of one of the newly professed in our community in Vietnam who answers the question Why do I love St. Stanislaus Papczyński?: “Not because of many miracles which God made through him; not because of his wisdom or extraordinary service to the Church, not because he founded the Congregation of Marian Fathers. I love him
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